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Friday, March 15, 2013

Not too many years ago David Bowie was the artist to watch. His dynamic musical career continually offered listeners something different at almost every turn. Not content to just release “yet another record,” Bowie always challenged his audience. We never knew what to expect from album to album, each as unique as the last. Every fan eagerly awaited his next move and then, after a world tour called Reality, he decided to call it quits in 2004. Afterwards, he made the occasional surprise appearance with the band Arcade Fire, or turned up at some fashion show. But the fans were still watching, just not necessarily expecting a new album any time soon.

All that changed on January 8th,
2013, Bowie’s 66th birthday with the surprise release of
a new single called “Where Are We Now?” a moody ballad that walks
us nostalgically through the streets of Berlin, circa 1977. To me it
sounded like “Thursday’s Child” from the album, hours
(1999). But with the release of the single and an album to
follow, Bowie was clearly back in the music business once again. Foregoing any auto-tuning, Bowie’s
vocal on “Where Are We Now?" is a little raw. He sounds older and I
respect the fact that he’s not hiding behind the mask of Ziggy
Stardust or the Thin White Duke. This is Bowie in 2013, after some
health issues, quietly revealing him in the first of many songs
written over the last couple of years.

While the first single didn’t make me
jump up with excitement, I was curious to hear more hoping for David Bowie to again pose a challenge to my ears. The second single called
“The Stars (are out tonight),” released February 25th,
certainly stirred my interest even though it, too, sounded too musically “familiar.” What was Bowie up to? Apparently the artist who once made the
music world stop and pay attention decades ago was back with a new
set of songs. And they leap past the recent singles. The Next Day (ISO
/ Columbia) features 14 tracks that are unexpectedly fresh and
accessible. It’s a record that rocks very hard in some places
("Dirty Boys," "Boss of Me") with contrasting ballads ("Heat," "Where Are We
Now?"). It’s also an album that indirectly harkens back to his
entire catalogue. For me, repeated listening garnered moments from
Ziggy Stardust, Station-to-Station, Lodger,
Scary Monsters, Let's Dance and Heroes, the
latter of which is used as the cover of the new album blocked by a
large white box over his pose. (A subversive cover according to
artist Jonathan Barnbrook.) I would associate those musical
coincidences to Bowie’s evolving sense of continuity than to any intentional rehash. In
assessing his discography, Bowie’s older songs certainly invoke the era in which they were recorded. The same can also be said for The
Next Day produced by long-time associate Tony Visconti.

Tony Visconti & David Bowie

It’s clearly a David Bowie record
from start to finish where he creates a variation on a theme (each track
segues from one to the next). In fact, the lyric sheet is one page with no
breaks between the printed songs like one continuous ode.
Consequently, The Next Day could be considered a holistic work
rather than a collection of songs. Nevertheless the album has a
modern sound with plenty of layers of real instruments featuring such
stalwart musicians as Earl Slick, David Toms and Tony Levin. String
arrangements also abound the disc. Bowie’s lyrics shift from obscure to
the solipsistic on this album; mostly written from an observer’s
point-of-view. I particularly like “[You Will] Set the World on
Fire” a hard-driving song about the Sixties songwriters of Greenwich
Village. Bowie names Dave Van Ronk, Joan Baez and Phil Ochs with a nod to Dylan as
“Bobby.” It’s a nostalgic tribute to some his favourite
songwriters from that era that did “set the world on fire.”

Bowie does reveal something of himself
on “You Feel So Lonely You Could Die,” a mid-tempo power ballad
with just enough soul to sound earnest. This is followed by the very
dark and mysterious “Heat,” a sad lament for lost identity. As Bowie sings, “My father ran the prison," that song
could easily be associated with Heathen from 2002, a darker
record that followed the events of 9/11. But these songs continually have an
uncanny resemblance to some of Bowie’s previous work. Overall, The Next Day is a
rewarding listen. It’s Bowie’s contemporary classic, as it were.
Much like his past recordings, it’s also an album that’s received
a lot of hype, as music magazines and fan sites pump up the volume.
(Q Magazine is particularly gaga in the February issue.) But perhaps
Bowie has lived up to the excitement with this release. The Next
Day is thoughtful, entertaining and it kicks: a clear signal that
the ageing rock star can still challenge his audience effectively.

- John Corcelli is a music critic,
broadcast/producer, musician and member of the Festival Winds
Orchestra.